1870.] BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY. 235 



now by some to be organs of hearing, and by others olfactonj 

 organs. From many points of resemblance, he thought they were 

 analogous to the hind wings of other insects, and that, at present, 

 their special use had not been ascertained. Besides these halteres 

 they had also winglets (^alulce), which were thought to be only 

 appendages to the fore-wings. Among the Diptera three classes 

 of fliers were found, differing in the form of their bodies and 

 shape of their wings ; first, the slender flies, such as the gnats, 

 having long bodies, narrow wings, and long legs, but without 

 winglets ; secondly, those whose bodies, though slender, were 

 more weighty, as the Asilidce, having larger bodies, shorter legs, 

 and very minute winglets ; lastly, those like the house-fly, with 

 short, thick, and often very heavy bodies, furnished with propor- 

 tionate wings, shorter legs, and conspicuous winglets. From these 

 circumstances it misrht be inferred that the long lefrs of the li^'ht- 



J CD Cj CD 



bodied flies acted as rudders, while the winglets helped the wings 

 in flying. The wings consisted of two laminae united by veins or 

 nervures, and upon their arrangement and the form of the an- 

 tennae, as seen in the great groups Xemocera and Brachycera, 

 the distinguishing characters of the Diptera are founded. The * 

 several parts of the wings and their nerves, and their differences 

 as seen in the two above-mentioned groups, were next pointt'd 

 out, and the paper illustrated by very beautiful drawings and 

 microscopic preparations of wings. — 3Iontlily Microscopic Journal. 



GLEANINGS FROM THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION MEETING OF 1870. 



— Mr. R. McAndrew, F.B.S., presented a report on the Marine 

 Mollusca of the Gulf of Suez. This report gives the general 

 result of a dredging excursion to the Gulf of Suez in February 

 and March 1869. Mr. E. Fielding accompanied the author. 

 Leaving Suez on the 10th February in a boat of about twelve 

 tons burthen, with one about five tons for dredoimr, and a small 

 boat for landing, the party reached Tur in about three weeks' 

 time. Their crew consisted of Maltese and Neapolitans, an Arab, 

 who proved an excellent diver, and a native of Tur, who acted as 

 pilot. From Tur they crossed over to the Point of Zeite and 

 the desolate islands situated towards the western side of the 

 Straits of Jubal. After working about a week among these, and 

 finding it a very rich collecting ground, they bore away to Ras 

 Mahommed, where they ended their labours, proceeding from this 

 to Tur, from whence they went by land to Suez. The number 



